Peter Pringle

About the author: Peter Pringle is a journalist who has worked for the London Sunday Times and theIndependent. He is also the author of Cornered: Big Tobacco at the Bar of Justice, an account of the major lawsuit settlements against U.S. tobacco companies in 1997.

Biological terrorist threats are multiplying even though few incidents of such terrorism have actually been carried out. The threats, however, are being taken seriously, especially in the United States where media fascination with new weapons of mass destruction has fueled a growing fear for public safety. The fear, however, is unjustified for two prominent reasons: the scenarios described in such media hype are so fantastic that experts claim they could not occur, and there is no precedent for any acts of mass biological terrorism in the...